GP trainee recruitment is up nearly 5% on last year, says HEE

Authors: Adrian O’Dowd

Publication date:
10 3월 2017

The number of doctors entering general practice training has risen by nearly 5% since last year, Health Education England has said.

Speaking to MPs on the House of Commons Public Accounts Committee on Thursday 9 March, Ian Cumming, HEE’s chief executive, said that applications to general practice training in 2017 were up by 4.8% on the 2016 number. “We have been successful at increasing the number of people into GP training,” he said. “Round one has just closed in terms of applications for GP training this year, and that is 4.7% up on the same time last year, so we are seeing continued progression in terms of the number of people wanting to train as GPs.”

HEE has told BMJ Careers that it received 5096 GP training applications in the first recruitment round of 2017, whereas in the first round in 2016 the number was 4863.

Cumming said that HEE was “seeking to train enough GPs to help meet the [target of] 5000 additional doctors working in general practice.”

In its 2015 election campaign the Conservative Party pledged to recruit 5000 extra GPs.[1]